Driver who caused death of pillion rider not NUS student, says university

CNA

4 days ago

SINGAPORE: A driver who caused the death of a teenager riding pillion on a motorcycle has never been a student at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the university said in a statement on Tuesday (Jul 1).
Jarrett Tee Lee Kiat had been identified as an NUS student at the time of the incident, in reports on court proceedings based on official court documents.
However, after Tee's sentencing, NUS posted a statement on Facebook saying that Tee "has no affiliation with this university".
"There are no records that this individual has ever been or is currently a student of NUS," said the university on its Facebook page.
The 30-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to jail for five years and eight months on Jun 27 for dangerous driving causing the death of Ms Leann Lim Jia Le, 18.
He had been driving along the East Coast Parkway expressway at speeds of up to 160kmh when he sped up and overtook the motorcycle Ms Lim was riding pillion on.
He then began to play "blocking and braking games" with the motorcycle. After asking his passengers "Do you want to see motorcycle fly?", Tee side-swiped the motorcycle, flinging its rider and pillion five to eight metres away.
Ms Lim died of multiple injuries from the collision, and Tee said "she deserved it as she come and push my limit", according to court papers.
Court documents that media outlets based their reports on stated: "At the time of the incident, the accused was a full-time student at the National University of Singapore and was also working part-time as a chef as well as a social media influencer".